TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING: APPLICATIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS Sheila McCutchan Abstract Human Resource Development (HRD)

strategies together with adult learning practices can support the development of learning organizations. This paper will explore the concept of learning organizations, learning culture, and the learning disabilities and barriers within organizations. I will examine transformative learning as it pertains to adults engaging in action learning, critical reflection, and experiential learning that leads adults to recognize and reshape their patterns of believing, thinking, and feeling. Introduction The key characteristic for the success of an organization is its ability to learn. In today's organizations the fundamental source of competitive advantage is shifting from resources to knowledge and from relatively stable sources of technological and market advantage to the capacity to create such advantages. The traditional hierarchical management structures seem to be designed for controlling, rather than for learning. The fundamental challenge for organizations is to transform the capacities to create knowledge. Organizations must focus on how to create the conditions for learning instead of investing in precisely defined organizational structures quickly made obsolete by changing conditions. A learning organization is supported by a learning culture where people work together to nurture and sustain a knowledge-creating system. People within the organization will need to become world class adapters in a work environment that is fluid, fuzzy, and fast. They will have to learn to examine their values, cocreate visions, redesign their approach to solving problems, and think systematically. How will organizations support this change amidst business pressures, entrenched bureaucracy, American individualism, and downsizing? How will organizations redirect learning efforts towards learning that is deep and developmental? Human resource developers alone cannot create a learning organization. Human Resource Development is part of the system and is interdependent with the other strategic parts of the organization; however, HRD strategies supported by transformative learning practice can support and sustain the development of a learning organization. The purpose of this paper is to examine the application of transformative learning and other adult education practices to the HRD

strategies needed to develop a learning organization. Adult Learning Practices Integral To Learning Organizations The adult learning practices that are integral for learning organization development are derived from a foundation of humanism. Humanism is a philosophy associated with beliefs about freedom and autonomy, beliefs that human beings are capable of making their own significant personal choices. Among the major assumptions underlying humanistic thought is that individuals have an urge toward self-actualization and that individuals have responsibility to both themselves and others (Hiemstra & Brockett, 1996). Humanist views support the essence of the learning organization as individuals struggle to learn and change. For learning to occur, individuals must courageously take responsibility as they confront personal transitions. Providing nourishing environments to meet human needs will enhance learning (O'Hara, 1996). Adult learning theories are a critical factor in the development of the learning organization. Transformative learning provides a solid foundation for many of the human development strategies necessary for the evolution of the learning organization. Transformative learning, according to Mezirow (1990), is learning that produces change, which upon reflection, has a significant impact on the learner's subsequent experiences. Within the context of transformative learning, action learning, experiential learning, and critical reflection can be applied to the development of the learning organization. The Learning Organization and The Learning Culture As organizations move from the Industrial age into the Information age, and competition increases throughout the international marketplace, it has become imperative for the survival of the organization to develop a capacity to change and learn. The development of the learning organization is associated with the need to provide for internal renewal of the organization in the face of a competitive environment. A learning organization has been defined by Watkins and Marsick (1994) as one that learns continuously and can "transform" itself as it empowers the people, encourages collaboration and team learning, promotes open dialogue, and acknowledges the interdependence of individuals and the organization. Senge (1990) sees a learning organization as one "where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together". Figure 1 summarizes learning organizations as presented by Senge, Marsick, and Garvin. Transformative learning and critical reflection, the process of "testing the justification or validity of 'taken for granted' premises" (Mezirow, 1990, p.354) are pivotal practices in developing learning organizations. Definition One where people HRD Strategy Personal Mastery Barriers & Disabilities I am my position

Senge

(1990)

continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patters of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning together.

Mental Models Building Shared Vision Team Learning Systems Thinking

The enemy is out there The illusion of taking charge Fixation of events The parable of the boiled frog The delusion of learning from experience The myth of the management team Inability to change mental models

Marsick One that learns continuously and can transform itself. It empowers the people, and encourages collaboration Watkins and team learning, promotes open dialogue, and acknowledges the (1994) interdependence of individuals, the organization, and the community.

Action-reflection learning

Programs that focus on work redesign Learned helplessness Systems Thinking Mechanisms to learn from customers Dialoguing A culture of disrespect and fear An entrenched bureaucracy Societal issues Tunnel vision Truncated learning Individualism

Garvin (1993)

A learning organization is an Systematic problem solving organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and Experimentation transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to Learning from experience reflect new knowledge and insights. Learning from others Transferring knowledge

Not addressed by Garvin

Figure 1. A comparative description of learning organization definitions, HRD strategies applied to develop learning organizations, and the barriers and disabilities within learning organizations. The organization's commitment to and capacity for learning can be no greater than that of its members (Senge, 1990). Building an organization that can truly learn cannot be accomplished without developing a learning culture where people can learn and think. "Learning is a continuous, strategically used process, integrated with and running parallel to work. Learning is built into work planning, career paths, and performance awards" (Watkins & Marsick, 1995). Within a learning culture, critical reflection can provide a foundation for dialogue which, when developed, can teach employees at all levels to go beyond their understanding of their assumptions and gain insight to a "larger pool" of meaning for inquiry and feedback (Marsick, 1994). People share their learning with others through networked structures and teams and they are empowered to make decisions that affect their jobs. Learning is rewarded, planned for, and supported through a culture of open risk taking, experimentation, and collaboration (Watkins & Marsick, 1995). Current organizational cultures may be unable to support the kind of learning needed to transform their capacity for learning and thinking. Learning forces individuals to fundamentally rethink the way they view the world--a process that is difficult in part because cultural assumptions predispose them to take certain things for granted, rather than to reexamine them continually (Schein, 1996). In understanding the interrelation between learning and culture, it is important to identify what elements of a culture might truly facilitate learning to learn. Learning to learn refers to "knowledge, processes, and procedures by which people come to and are assisted to make appropriate educational decisions and carry out instrumental tasks associated with life long learning" (Smith, 1990, p.4). Knowing how to learn is the key that unlocks future successes (Smith, 1990). According to Schein (1996), two types of learning are involved in changing the learning culture. The first type, adaptive learning focuses on a problem or gap between where we are and where we want to be, we learn, solve the problem, and close the gap; generative learning, focuses on learning how to learn. In other words, the learners discover that the problem or gap is contingent on learning new ways of perceiving and thinking about problems, or rethinking cultural assumptions (Schein, 1996). The generative learning process can be applied across the organization to help create and sustain a learning culture that supports learning at the individual, group, and organizational levels over time. A culture is not easily changed. Organizations must first become aware of their cultural biases, and through reflection, dialogue, and inquiry learn to become observers of their own thinking (Senge, 1990). Senge's description of transformative learning and the practice of critical reflection, by allowing for the potential transformation of personal frames of reference, lay the foundation for a new learning culture. Learning Disabilities and Barriers in Creating a Learning Organization Looking at how organizations currently deal with obstacles and face challenges leads to discovery of the fundamental reasons why learning does not occur in organizations. "The way companies are

designed and managed, the way people's jobs are defined...the way we have been taught to think and interact...create fundamental learning disabilities" (Senge, 1990, p.18). Inhibitors to learning as described by Senge and Marsick and Watkins are included in figure 1. Challenges and barriers include chronic themes relating to authoritarian, bureaucratic organizational structures, individualism and status seeking behaviors, myopic problem solving and decision making processes, an "us vs. them" mentality, and disembodiment of the worker from the person. Societal and other organizational influences create still more threats to developing learning capacities. Society and the socialization process "militates against critical reflection" (Mezirow, 1990, p.359). Organizations have created environments in which layoffs, staffing with temporary workers, reengineering and company acquisitions are common. Schein (1996) states that anxieties are produced in people when they are asked to unlearn before they relearn, question their mental models and personal ways of thinking and acting, and their relationships with each other. The fear of something new, unpredictable, or unknown is change anxiety and survival anxiety -- the uncomfortable realization that in order to survive and thrive, individuals must change. In order for learning to occur, they must reach the psychological point where the fear of not learning is greater than the fear associated with entering the unknown. With so many barriers and learning disabilities, can this vision become a reality? HRD Strategies and Adult Education Practices for Building a Learning Organization The HRD strategies to create a learning organization are many and include programs that focus on work redesign, experiential learning, dialoguing, and mechanisms to learn from customers (Marsick & Watkins, 1994); systematic problem solving, experimentation, and demonstration projects (Garvin, 1993); and Senge's (1990) five disciplines: personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking. The framework for these developmental strategies revolves around disciplines in the context of "artistic discipline" that is, as a set of practices which one spends one's life mastering. Adult learning practices integrated with the essence of the strategies or disciplines are the premise for cultivation of a learning organization. Adult education practices applicable to HRD strategies for building learning organizations are summarized in figure 2. HRD Strategy Work Redesign Learning from others Mechanisms to learn from the customer Systematic Problem Solving Team Learning Experimentation Learning from past experience Source Marsick & Watkins Marsick & Watkins Senge Marsick & Watkins Garvin Senge Garvin Garvin Adult Education Practice Action Learning Action Learning Action Learning Action Learning Action Learning Cooperative Learning Experiential Learning Experiential Learning

Transferring knowledge Personal Mastery Mental Models Building Shared Vision

Garvin Senge Senge Senge

Transformative Learning Critical Reflection Critical Reflection Critical Reflection Dialoguing Transformative Learning

Dialoguing Transferring Knowledge Systems Thinking

Cooperative Learning Marsick & Watkins Transformative Learning Senge Garvin Transformative Learning Senge Transformative Learning Marsick & Watkins

Figure 2. Adult education practices applicable to HRD strategies for building learning organizations. According to Mezirow, the practice of action learning is highly suited to helping employees learn in today's rapidly changing organizations. Action learning provides a framework for learning from experience that involves critical reflection in group learning. This practice would benefit work redesign programs, learning from customers, demonstration projects and all team learning strategies. Working on "real Life" problems in groups teaches people how to work collectively to solve systemic problems. Team learning involves thinking with insight about complex issues while members trust and are aware of other members. Alignment of the team is essential for the team to learn and grow. Team learning is the process of aligning and developing the capacity of the team to create the results they have envisioned (Senge, 1990). Experiential learning, learning from experience and reflecting on that experience to develop new skills, new attitudes or new ways of thinking, will aid organizations as they review successes and failures systematically. It creates "a mind set that enables companies to recognize the value of productive failure as contrasted with unproductive success" (Garvin, 1993, p. 86). Successes in work redesign, systematic problem solving, and experimentation will be impacted by experiential learning. Critical Reflection and dialoguing are key to development of Senge's (1990) disciplines of mental models, personal mastery, and building shared vision. Mental models are the deeply ingrained assumptions and paradigms that influence how we understand and act in the world (Senge, 1990). Critical reflection is the central process in transformative learning. It is through critical reflection that individuals learn to question and then replace or reframe assumptions (Cranton, 1996). Critical reflection will help individuals and learning organizations desimplify and expose their mental models, create an atmosphere of openness, and make decisions based on merit with the best interests of the

organization and system in mind. Critical reflection is significant as people develop personal mastery (clarification of personal vision) and continue to expand their ability to create the results they want. Through dialogue individuals build shared vision which pulls the organization and it's people toward the goals they truly want to achieve. Systems thinking ties all the other disciplines together and offers a set of tools to understand complex organizational issues. Systems thinking, along with transformative learning, alters the individual's predominant ways of thinking in order for them to understand and manage in a world of increasing inter-dependency. Mastering systems thinking helps them see how their actions have shaped their current reality and that transformation develops the confidence that really can create a new reality in the future (Senge, 1990). Mezirow (1990) states that learners who share in this experience can affect change by affiliating with like-minded persons who are devoted to change, by changing inter-personal relationships, and by changing the system collectively. Transformative Learning is essential for the development of systems thinking and the mastery of all the disciplines and strategies for developing a learning organization. As Rogers emphasizes that self-actualization of the learner is the goal of educating a fully functional person (Jarvis, 1995); I see systems thinking as the self-actualization of the learning organization to become a fully functioning organization. What fundamentally will distinguish learning organizations from the traditional authoritarian "controlling organizations" will be the mastery of these disciplines and the continued use of these strategies. When people work on the mastery of these disciplines, it enables them to overcome the learning disabilities within the organization (Senge, 1990). Conclusion The barriers and learning disabilities abound within today's organizations and the transformation from hierarchical to democratic, from individualistic to team, from tunnel vision to systems thinking is a slow evolutionary process. Organizations seem to be in a constant state of inconsistency and encounter innumerable stresses that threaten their survival. They are confronted with agile competitors, demands for higher quality at lower cost in a global marketplace, and the shortened life span of technology and information. The current reality with all its problems and barriers necessitate a lofty vision for HRD departments. HRD departments, in partnership with other strategic functions of organization, must subscribe to the disciplines themselves in order to transform the entity. Transformative learning, action learning, experiential learning, and critical self-reflection are primary practices of adult education that have the capacity to optimize the development of the learning organization. Transforming an organization into a learning organization is a sustainable vision for HRD. That transformation of the organization's capacity for learning and thinking systematically has the capacity to evolve given the application of adult learning practices.

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